our hostages released. senator tim scott announcing he is spinsding his presidential campaign. >> it's a surprise, but it's also not a surprise. >> i'm going to hold on and keep working hard and look forward to other opportunities. >> chaos and finger pointing among house republicans as the u.s. barrels towards another spending dead laine. >> mike johnson unveiled an unconventional plan. >> whether all democrats will oppose this proposal. donald trump will launch his defense against him, his two adult sons and his business. >> the son back on the stand, they will continue to be the notion, what are we doing here? >> the defense has already concluded they are going to lose. good morning, everyone. there's a the lot of news to get to, but we start with this. this just in from israel's military. president the idf says another evacuation corridor has been opened today, even as fighting intensifies and the medical system collapses. some of the images you're about to see are disturbing. medical officials report they are running out of fuel, supplies, and water and doctors are overwhelmed as thousands seek refuge from airstrikes at hospitals. newborn babies have been taken off incubators ands placed next to hot water to keep them alive. >> the largest hospital, the lights are out and the director there tells cnn that all essential units have collapsed. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu says that hospital is being used as a hamas command center. the group has denied that. the idf says it advanced its ground operation deeper into gaza. that's what you're looking at arresting 20 operatives, including terrorists involved in the october 7th attack. let's go straight to oren liebermann, live from tel aviv. tell us what happened on the ground and how dire these circumstances are. >> reporter: a lot of the focus on the hospital right now, both what's happening inside and outside. the hospital director says all essential units have collapsed. the operating units went offline. the nicu went offline because the generators couldn't power the incubators to keep the oxygen supply running. now official there is have had tos put the babies near hot wart and tinfoil. thousands more taking shelter inside. a dire situation there as they run out of water, fuel, electricity and food. here is a window into what's happening inside the hospital. >> there was a direct injury in the head, international bleeding. we can't do surgeries. surgeries, no oxygen, no electricity. we workman yulely. we are using a manual resuscitator. it's a clear injury. it needs an urgent surgery. he's less than a year old. >> reporter: doctors without borders says the health care system is past the point of no return. the idf tried to drop off fuel. they say hamas got in the way. the hospital says that should have been delivered through the red cross because the staff is too afraid to go outside to get it. >> there's still ongoing negotiations related to the 230 hostages. it was striking yesterday. the white house in a read out of a call between president biden and qatar's leader tucked into it that there's a hostage being held that's a 3-year-old american toddler. there's been so little information about american h hostages. what more do we know about this? >> reporter: this is the the first we have learned there's such a young american citizen who is being held hostage. 3 years old. president biden said in his call with the leader of qatar that he insisted all the hostages should be released. affirming that u.s. support for a future palestinian state and said hamas has been an impediment to the future of a palestinian state. that's the youngest american citizen who is held hostage in hamas. the families of the hostages demanding that the red cross be allowed access to them, as they should under international law. there's a 9-month-old baby being held hostage. hostage negotiations ongoing, but very difficult to see progress at this point. >> orren liebermann, thank you. the united states has ca carried out a new round of airstrikes against iran-backed targets. this strike was in eastern syria. lloyd uaustin says the strikes were directed by the president and targeted a training facility and a safe house there. the united states believes iran's islamic guard is responsible for at least 46 rocket and drone launches against u.s. troops in iraq and syria over just the past month. natasha berth tran trand joins us with more. there's been attacks on u.s. forces. 46 injured. so this is the u.s. responding. tell us about the new strikes. >> reporter: exactly. so this is the third straight in three weeks that the u.s. has launched against the irgc, tand its proxy groups targeting a training facility and a safe house in eastern syria that the u.s. says these iranian-backed groups were using in order to carry out these attacks on u.s. troops. as you mentioned, there have been over 46 attacks in recent weeks by these groups. over 56 injuries of u.s. personnel, including traumatic brain injuries. so the u.s. taking this very seriously, sending a message to these groups that this is unacceptable, sending messages directly to iran that they expect them to reign in their proxy groups. and retaliating by trying to degrade their infrastructure, trying to degrade the facilities they use, the weapons they store in order to prevent these attacks from happening in the future. however, so far, the groups have not been deterred. after these strikes, we have continued to see those attacks on u.s. bases in iraq and syria. but here's what lloyd usa stun said about the strikes and how the u.s. is prepared to defend itself troops. >> we will take all necessary measures to protect our troops. the safety of our troops and our civilians are utmost importance to the president of the united states and to me. >> reporter: now at least 25 of these injuries suffered in recent weeks by u.s. troops have been traumatic brain injuries. others have been fairly minor, but this is really an example here of how the tensions in the region are escalating. the u.s. is launching these self-defense strikes to try to prevent them from spiraling out of control. these groups have not been d deterred. >> while we have you, five service members were killed in an accident in the eastern mediterranean. what more do we know about what happened there? >> so far, we know very little. the defense department has not released a ton of information because they want to give the families of the five service members some time to grieve. so we don't know their names or identity, but we know this was an aircraft mishap. that's what the pentagon is calling it. it happened in the eastern mediterranean during a training refueling exercise just last week. and the pentagon said in a statement that, quote, during a routine refueling mission, a u.s. military aircraft carrying five service members suffered a mishap and crashed into the mediterranean sea. the president, as well as the secretary of defense, sending their condolences, but this is a very serious moment. something that they want to give the family some time to process before they relice their names. >> thank you. new overnight, tim scott dropping out of the race for president. he made the announcement during a live tv interview. it caught many of his staff members by surprise and very clearly taught the tv host off guard. it's his former friend and congressman trey gowdy. >> when i go back to iowa, it will not be as a presidential candidate. i am suspending my campaign. i think the voters who are the most remarkable people on the planet have been really clear that they are telling me not now, tim. i don't think they are saying no, but i do think they are saying not now. >> here's a look at the gop field as it stands. scott suspending his campaign just two months before the iowa caucuses. sources say his team was worried about if he would qualify for the debate next month, and that he's leave ing the race allows m to return to the senate without an embarrassing finish in iowa. let's bring in eva mcend, who has been following all of this. you know this so closely. the fact that trey gowdy was surprised on that live announcement says a lot. >> it does. good morning to you. i was watching this back this morning. it really seemed like no doubt that this was a decision that was informed by his faith. the timing was a surprise, but the not the announcement itself. that's because there were several warning signs, but most of the people in his campaign have been telling me that they were going to press on until iowa. but you were right. they were worried about qualifying for the fourth republican debate next month. he was the last candidate to meet the donor and polling thresholds to make last week's debate. he clearly wants to pursue perhaps another run again. he really indicated in that interview. it seem as though by leaving now, he's best positioned to do so was his reasoning. but don't expect him to endorse anyone else in the field quite yet. didn't seem like he's going to, for instance, endorse nikki haley, liej wlike some of his fundraisers have overnight. he says he thinks it's best to keep quiet. let's listen. >> i'm going to recommend that the voters study each candidate and their candidacies, and transly, their past. make the best decision for the future of the country. the best way for me to be helpful is to not weigh in on who they should endorse. >> reporter: so scott centered his campaign on hope and optimism, but that was not a message that republican voters had an appetite for at this time. >> eva, we appreciate it. thank you. house speaker mike johnson facing his first big test as speak er. his olympian to prevent a major government shutdown in four days already facing right wing resi resistance. and the trump legal team will mount its defense. don jr. is set to take the stand with his family's empire on the line. that's next. today dth's legal team will be launching its defense in the fraud trial against the former president, his adult sons and his business. now the first witness will be hearing from is the eldest son, donald trump jr. he already testified earlier this month when he was called by the new york attorney general's office. he and his brother eric are accuse d of knowingly participating in a scheme to inflate their father's net worth. joining nous now is elie honig. let's start with the witnesses. don jr. is up first. coming back for a second time, there's others that may do the same. >> the great philosopher said, deja vu. donald trump will be back in the courtroom today. now it's going to be different than the first time. because the first time donald trump jr. was on the stand, he was called to the standby the other side. by the attorney general's office, the way that works, they got to question him first. trump's own defense team could have cross examined him if it they wanted. they have to stay within the bounds of whatever the a.g. asked donald trump jr. now trump's own team is calling him to the stand so they can ask him whatever they want. they have chosen him str strategically as their lead off hitter. what other witnesses could we see? all of these bold-s faced names were called by the a.g. all of any of them could be recalled for the same reasons. i don't any we're going to see michael cohen again. they were reluctant to have her testify the first time. will donald trump himself take the stand again? we'll have to wait and see. eric trump, we could see take the stand for similar reasons they are recalling. but the real heart of the defense is going to be accountants, experts, valuation, people who aren't as known as these people. but that's going to be the heart of the witnesses. >> what are the core defense arguments? >> the first argument that the defense is going to make, they are going to try to defend some of their valuations of their properties. the core of the case here, the allegation is they vastly overinflated those values. we are not talking about just bridging a gap of a few percentage points. mar-a-lago is worth $20 million. according to trump's team, it's worth previously $500 million. then donald trump got on the stand and said it's worth $1 billion. so will there be, ert pert who is can justify these higher valuations? we'll see. that's an awful lot of dis discrepancy to bridge. the other main theme we're going to see from the defense, this is something trump's lawyer said in court just on friday. he said there's no victim. there's no complainant. there's no injury. what he means is the banks who gave the loans to the trump organization, they are sophisticated parties. deutsche bank knows what it's doing. they got repaid. so i think those are going to be the primary defense themes. >> can you remind people what's at stake? >> important to remember, the judge has ruled for the a.g. and against donald trump on one of the causes of action. the judge found that there was persistent fraud or illegality. but there's still a lot in play here. there are six other causes of action. conspiracy, insurance fraud, false statements, and finally the judge, and remember there's no jury here, the judge has to assess damages. the a.g. is looking for $250 million. and looking to suspend the trump organization's business certificate, which would put them out of business in new york. >> it would be close to the blow for the trump organization if that's how it comes out. >> thank you. the weight loss drug showing promising results after a landmark clinical trials. details ahead. this is just in. a democratic congressman could not run for reelection. we have new reporting on what she plans to do instead. that's next. in order for small businesses to thrive, they need to be smart, efficient, savvy. making the most of every opportunity. that's why comcast business is introducing the small business bonus. for a limited time you can get up to a $1000 prepaid card with qualifying internet. yep, $1000. so switch to business internet from the company with the largest fastest reliable network and that powers more businesses than anyone else. learn how you can get $1000 back for your business today. comcast business. powering possibilities. this morning results of what is being called a landmark clinical trial for the first time that a weight loss drug used to treat patients with heart disease acan reduce their risk of complications like heart attacks and strokes. this is great news. >> this is a really huge trial. we heard a ton about these drugs. they induce such large amounts of weight loss, but for the first time, we're seeing in a major clinical trial that that weight loss translates into a major benefit in preventing heart-related death. so they ran this trial in more than 17,000 patients. they followed them for an average of more than 3 years. folks in the study had a bmi of at least 27, putting them in the overweight category. it induced weight loss of just 10%. we saw benefits in blood pressure, blood sugar, markers of inmags and that main goal a reduction in the risk of the heart events by 20% compared with the pla seecebo. so does this finally show that losing weight can protect your heart? and while it's not completely clear that's the answer, is it the drug or the weight loss? this drug is having this really positive effect. >> what do we know about safety? >> they didn't see any new safety risks in the trial. that's really important to know. we did see high levels of gi side effects, so the nausea, vomiting, dire recent ya. 10% of patients stopped the trial because of side effects compared with 2% on placebo. those are do things you see. >> 10% is a lot. >> big question has been will insurance cover it. it's so expensive without it. >> it costs more than $1300 without insurance. the expectation is once they have showed a benefit beyond weight loss, because a lot of people consider that cosmetic, if you can show this will prevent heart attacks and other heart-related events, this could save them money. so there's a hope among the medical community this will lead to increased insurance coverage. >> you have done a ton of great reporting on these drugs. what do we know? >> this is th one is in short supply. it can be hard to get the starter doses because the company can't make enough to satisfy demand. we got a second weight loss drug approved last week in the united states. it's a different medicine, but works very similarly. this doesn't have the he heart-related benefit trial results behind it yet. that is in the works. but we expect both of these drugs will probably be in super high demand. i was at this conference on saturday where the results represented room full of cardiologists. a lot of them if they are not prescribing this drug, they are going to start. >> fascinating. thank you. speaker mike johnson playin out a plan to prevent a shutdown. why his own party could hold up the progress. also child care providers facing a crisis is after pandemic-era funding expired. what does that mean for your family? ahead. we have some breaking p political news. a congresswoman from virginia announced she will be run ning for governor. the former cia officer made the announcement in a video posted on social media moments ago. >> some politicians in richmond focus on banning abortion and books, what they are not doing is helping people. i know how to bring people together and get real things done that improve lives. that's why i'm running for governor. >> time for the countdown clock again in washington. only four days left to prevent a government shutdown. the new house speaker mike johnson pitching a two-step plan to fund part of the government until january 19th. the second is until february 2nd. neither include additional aid for israel or cukraine. the house rules committee will take the first step in considering speaker johnson's unconventional stopgap bill. they meet at 4:00 p.m. lauren fox joins us from the capitol with more. walk us through this plan. >> reporter: essentially, this is sort of an unprecedented approach to government funding. what the republicans are godoin here and the speaker in particular is he's keeping funding levels at the same place they have been over the course of the last year. but what he's doing is having two separate deadlines for various government agencies to run out of that money. the first deadline will come on january 19th. the second deadline will come on february 2nd. now there are a number of democrats who had been warning this approach was complicated, that it was gimmicky, that it really didn't make sense in terms of how congress typically handles these kinds of showdowns. and yet, what you're hearing from democrats is they are keeping their options open, keeping their powder dry. and really staying on the sidelines right now because the likelihood is they are probably going to have to get behind this plan, if they want to avert a shutdown by friday. so all eyes are on what house democrats are going to do in the next couple days. the house rules committee is going to vote today. they are going to move forward with this proposal. then there's going to be a critical test for speaker johnson because in order to pass this on the floor, he's going to have to bring a procedural step t. tipically, it's up to the majority party to get those rule ace cross the finish line to get on to voting on the actual underlying legislation. in this case, the spending bill. it's not clear the republicans and conservatives are going to help him out on that rule. that opens the question of just how much help is he going to need from democrats in this first very critical step as speaker. >> right. democrats at least some of them, relieved to see that there aren't cuts to the levels that spending was at. what about tomorrow on the floor vote? >> reporter: that is the critical question